Economy Adds 431,000 Jobs—Barely Enough to Stay in Place
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Some 431,000 net new jobs were created in May. A whopping 411,000 of those new jobs were temporary U.S. Census jobs, while private employers added only 41,000 new jobs in May. Overall, the unemployment rate dropped to 9.7 percent, down from 9.9 percent in April, according to a report released this morning by the U.S. Department of Labor.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said the low number of private-sector jobs is further evidence the recovery is still fragile.
The Economic Recovery Act saved us from a second Great Depression, but it was not sufficient to power strong and sustained job growth, and its effects are expected to wane in coming months.
He called on Congress to do more to create jobs and sustain the recovery.
Most immediately, Congress must move quickly to restore health care benefits for the unemployed and provide aid to states to maintain jobs and vital services. We already see state and local governments shedding 22,000 jobs in May. Without further action to offset state budget shortfalls, these job losses will offset temporary gains from federal spending.
290,000 Jobs Created in April, Jobless Rate Worsens to 9.9 Percent
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Some 290,000 jobs were created in April, the fourth straight month in more than year the nation has seen gains in employment. Yet the unemployment rate worsened to 9.9 percent from 9.7 percent in March, according to data released this morning by the Department of Labor. The total unemployment figure, which includes those who are discouraged or underemployed, worsened to 17.1 percent in April, from 16.9 percent in March—some 27 million U.S. workers without jobs or full-time work.
Yet economists say the increase in the unemployment rate can be viewed as good news because it means that more than 800,000 workers entered the labor force, many of them formerly discouraged workers who had stopped looking for work.
April job growth came in manufacturing, 44,000 jobs; service jobs, 166,000; construction, 14,000 and mining, 7,000. The jobs increase also was bolstered by the federal government’s hiring of 66,000 temporary workers to help complete the U.S. Census. The April jobless rate for black workers is 16.5 percent, for Hispanic, 12.5 percent and worsened for white workers, to 9 percent.
Jobless Rate Remains at 9.7 Percent, Long-Term Unemployment a Crisis
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The jobless rate remained at 9.7 percent, with 36,000 jobs lost in February, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports today. The biggest hit came in construction, where employment fell by 64,000. Manufacturing remained steady but 18,000 jobs were lost in the information industry. Temporary help services added 48,000 jobs.
The ongoing agony for long-term (those jobless for 27 weeks and over) jobless workers continues, with 6.1 million workers in February, roughly the same level since December. Some four in 10 unemployed persons have been unemployed for 27 weeks or more.
When both unemployed and underemployed workers are counted, there still are 26.2 million people without full-time work—a 16.8 percent under-employment rate. In fact, the under-employment rate (which includes not just the officially unemployed, but also jobless workers who have given up looking for work and part-time workers who want full time jobs) worsened from 16.5 percent to 16.8 percent.
The AFL-CIO is moving an aggressive plan to push for new jobs, calling on Congress and the Obama administration to take five immediate steps to address the jobs crisis.
Trumka to Launch Jobs Initiative Tomorrow
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Tomorrow morning, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka will announce a major new initiative to create and save jobs.
(Watch the live webcast at www.aflcio.org/createjobs starting at 9 a.m.)
Trumka will be part of a noted panel in “Spotlight on the Jobs Crisis” at the Economic Policy Institute (EPI).
With unemployment at its highest rate in more than 20 years, Trumka says America needs bold, quick action to put people back to work, in addition to longer term, structural fixes for our economy. The AFL-CIO initiative he announces will include calls to extend help for the unemployed, rebuild the nation’s infrastructure, provide aid to struggling states and communities, create federally funded community-based jobs and increase lending to small and medium-sized businesses to spur job creation.
U.S. Jobless Rate Shocking: 15.7 Million Workers Unemployed
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Stunningly bad news on the nation’s jobless rate today: Unemployment worsened in October to 10.2 percent, a huge jump from 9.8 percent in September. That’s 15.7 million jobless workers, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Worse, the unemployment and underemployment rate is a shocking 17.5 percent—more than 27 million American workers without full-time jobs.
The construction, manufacturing and retail industries had the biggest losses, with 62,000 construction jobs lost in October, 61,000 in manufacturing and 40,000 in retail. Health care and temporary employment were the only bright spots, with health care jobs increasing by 29,000 and temp jobs by 44,000.
More Unemployed Workers, Fewer Jobs
The U.S. retail sector has been the most immune to the nation’s year-long jobs free fall, but that has changed in recent months and likely will get much worse. Today’s Commerce Department report on retail sales in December, the period when most retailers make a large chunk of their earnings, are bleak: Sales were down 9.8 percent in December from December 2007. These figures mean many stores will be closed and entire chains going bankrupt—and many more U.S. workers will lose their jobs.
Already, there now are four unemployed workers for every job opening, according to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). The nonprofit group also reports a 90 percent growth of involuntary part-time workers over the past year, with some 8 million U.S. workers forced to settle for fewer hours. Such workers are not counted in the official monthly Labor Department unemployment data, meaning the official U.S. unemployment of 7.2 percent is more like 13.5 percent when underemployed or workers too discouraged to look for work are counted.
